Trip to Nova Scotia

On June 19 I travelled from NB to NS with 13 ratties to get the 9 girls spayed and one recently rescued aggressive boy (Osiris) neutered.
I also took along 2 of my girls on meds (Sandra & Linda), and one elderly boy (Rhys) I was pet sitting that required meds and syringe feeding several times a day. Rhys belongs to godmother who went on vacation to Europe and did not make alternative arrangements for him or pick him up from me as promised.

Linda and Sandra


The 9 girls in the bathroom

And in the rental car:

The 9 sisters in the cage and Osiris in the small cat carrier






Rhys in the carrier below Linda and Sandra


Linda and Sandra

Wow! Sounds like quite the trip!

What an excellent set up for it though! Is that the closest exotic vet to you??? I couldn’t imagine having to go that far!

Vicki said:

Wow! Sounds like quite the trip!

What an excellent set up for it though! Is that the closest exotic vet to you??? I couldn’t imagine having to go that far!

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Thanks Vicki, it was quite the trip

Actually it probably is the closest exotic vet to me. My regular vet is a wonderful rat vet and in the last 13 years has pretty much done it all, but the exotic vet in Mahone Bay charges less then half what my vet charges for spays and neuters

Great pics! You always go above and beyond for your babies.

jorats said:

Great pics! You always go above and beyond for your babies.

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Unfortunately not far enough
I was forced to leave my 9 rescue boys, who had been scheduled for neuters, behind because of godmother's behaviour,
and I can not afford another trip to NS to get them neutered (the first trip is going to take a couple of years to pay off on my credit card)

Wow - that is incredible. you are so dedicated to your babies. bless your heart!!

That does look like quite the trip! So sorry you had to leave your boys behind. Not very fair of the godmother for sure! It still surprises me how expensive neuters are (no idea of the cost of a spay) and what a cost difference between vets. My 4 boys are getting the snip on October 25th at less than half the cost of a different vet. This will be my first rat neuters, and I’m sure to be a nervous wreck! Lol
SQ, with the females, do you have to separate them after a spay? Or just watch them very closely?

Thanks Rattieluvr
yeah, spays are much more expensive then neuters because they are more invasive and the surgery takes longer

Once rats have recovered from the anesthetic, they are put back in with their friends.
So I put the spayed girls back in with their friends and kept an eye on them
In case you or others reading this are not aware, separating rats causes stress which can cause illness
Rats do not normally bother their stitches as long as they are getting proper pain control

Make sure the vet has the knowledge and experience to safely operate on and neuter rats - most do not.
Only gas anesthetic used and nothing is given by injection until after the surgery, when they are usually given and injection of metacam that should last for 24 hours. You will want to discuss all of this with your vet, and get metacam orally after the injection has worn off. Good luck to you and your boys

Update: The boys have still not been neutered as Godmother (Wendy Rogers) has thus far not been willing to pay the difference in cost to get them neutered.

(I believe that she is responsible to cover this difference in cost because my 9 boys had the be left behind and their neuters in NS cancelled because she lied in an email about picking up her rat, and did not make other arrangements for his care despite being given plenty of notice that I could not care for her rat and told her that it was her responsibility to make other arrangements for him, and went on vacation to Europe.
By failing to pick him up she put me in the impossible position of either taking him to NS with me, or leaving him behind to starve to death since he required syringe feedings and a minimum of 4 hours of care each day.)